While I was doing my research in order to make the red poppy, I stumbled upon photos with the blue version of the flower, fell in love with it and was left with no choice but to try to quill it.

After a little bit of reading, I found out that blue poppy is part of Meconopsis genus (which translates as poppy-like) and also that there are approximately 40 species found in the Himalayas and just one is indigenous to Europe. Other common names are the Himalayan poppy and the Tibetan poppy.

After browsing through dozens of photos with blue poppies, I decided to quill a variety with 4 petals in a darker shade of blue. And this is what it looks like:

I made the petals with the husking technique (alternate side looping). I used 120gsm blue paper, hand cut into 2mm strips. The trickiest part was to recreate the flower center, especially the tip of the pistil or the stigma, mainly because it’s really tiny and it was difficult to shape it in order to look realistic. The diameter of one flower is approximately 6cm.

I also made 3 different types of buds until I finally settled for this one:

I am still not 100% happy, but I’ll let them slide for now :D. The stems are made of wire wrapped in crepe paper, hence the 3D effect. The flowers are not framed yet, I still need to deepen a shadowbox frame to accommodate the entire quilled piece. But to give you an idea on the size, the passepartout measures 15cm * 25.5cm.

Make sure to also check my red poppy and my very first quilled poppies made when I was a guest designer for a challenge blog!

Wow Manu! I love your creations with these magical 2 mm strips! So precise and not a strip out of place! You’re perfection personified dear! 🙂 A slight offshoot, but I love it that you gave the background along with the scientific name. I love posts that come with a story of the piece……..;) And your English is flawless. A thorough literary and visual pleasure to read your post 🙂

Thank you so much, Pritesh! I don’t even remember when it was the last time I used paper strips wider than 2mm. The only exception are my paper graphic projects, and let me tell you, when I cut those 5mm strips they seem so huuuuge! Haha!
I always do a little bit of background reading, but I rarely write about it in my posts because I don’t want my audience to get bored with too many details. 😀
Thank you again for all your kind words!
Hugs!

Wow….Manu…Absolute Visual treat in blue poppy form 🙂 Great husking and so real lifelike…wonder how u did that fringing….its different from your earlier versions…happy if u could share the infos 🙂 Did u distressed it or added extra bit of dark yellow strip on one edge and did fringing i hope!!!

No distress, I added 1mm dark yellow paper strips on the edge of both sides of the light yellow paper and then began to fringe it. I wanted to add a little bit of volume to those edges, not just color. Look at a picture with a real blue poppy and you’ll see why. Hope it helps!

As always your work is so neat, accurate and inspiring. I have been a follower of your blog since the time I was self learning with the help of accomplished quillers like you. Keep on inspiring! Do visit my blog at http://thrilling-quilling.blogspot.com/

Absolutely the best husked flower, with a true to life center. How did you get those orange topped stamens?? I never could get those fringed flowers to open up so symmetrically. Would love some tips from you Manu.http://ajourneyintoquilling.blogspot.com
Chris

I glued 1mm orange paper strips on both sides of the light yellow one, then began to fringe it. You could also color the edges using a marker pen, but I wanted to add a little bit of volume to make the stamens look more realistic. Hope it helps!

Manu, this is totally outstanding. I remember your poppy in red color as well. But the detailing in this one is just superb. And yeah as Pritesh said the background that you gave in the post is reall informative. I never knew poppies come in blue color too.

Manu, again just fantastic, and so perfect lol.
I am just a beginner and having very very energetic 3 year old don’t dream yet on having to much spear time to actually create something as stunning as your creations but hopefully one day …
Already know how you’ve done the center and I have to say it makes a difference and ads a wow, in my humble opinion, to the whole project.

awestruck. so delicated and beautiful. You like to work with thinner strips I guess. Even I like to. I stick to 3 mm. Still a novice. I dont have a cutter and ready made strips are available in 3 mm only. will surely try this.

Thank you very much, Gayatri! Yes, I prefer the thinner strips, I haven’t used anything wider than 2mm in a very long time. I cut them with a metal ruler and a cutter. It’s a bit time consuming, but totally worth it! Do try and let me know how it went! Happy Quilling!